President Trump Postpones Implementation Of 25 Percent Tariffs For Goods According To Mexican And Canadian Trade Agreements

JAKARTA - United States President Donald Trump on Thursday suspended the imposition of a 25 percent import rate he imposed this week on most of the goods from Canada and Mexico, the latest changes to the volatile trade policy that has rocked financial markets and sparked concerns over inflation and the slowdown in growth.

The exception, which includes the two largest US trading partners, ended on April 2 when President Trump threatened to impose a global reciprocal rate regime on all US trading partners.

President Trump has imposed a 25 percent levy on imports from both countries on Tuesday, citing an exception only to Mexico on Thursday, but amendments he signed Thursday afternoon local time also included Canada.

It is known that the three countries are partners in the North American trade pact.

"In response, Canada will delay the second batch of retaliatory rates planned for US$125 billion products until April 2", Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc said in a post on X.

For Canada, the amended White House order also excludes customs for potash, essential fertilizer for US farmers, but does not fully cover energy products, which Trump has imposed 10 percent of separate levies.

A White House official said this was because not all energy products imported from Canada were covered by the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement on trade negotiated by President Trump during his first term as president.

The Republican president imposed a tariff after announcing a national state of emergency on January 20, his first day in office, due to death from a fentanyl overdose, confirming the deadly opioid and its precursor chemicals shipped from China to the US through Canada and Mexico.

As a result, apart from Mexico and Canada, President Trump has also charged 20 percent of all imports from China.

China said it would "firmly fight" pressure from the United States over fentanyl issues, and urged Washington to resolve drug abuse itself.

"No country can imagine they can pressure China on the one hand while developing good relations with China on the other," Foreign Minister Wang Yi said at a briefing in Beijing on Friday.

Earlier, President Trump first announced the imposition of tariffs in early February, but he postponed the imposition of tariffs for Canada and Mexico until Tuesday.

Earlier this week he refused to postpone it again, and doubled the imposition of tariffs by 10 percent which had been in effect since February 4 for imports from China.

"On April 2, we will apply reciprocal rates, and hopefully Mexico and Canada have done a pretty good job related to fentanyl so that this part of the talks will not be discussed again, and we will switch to reciprocal rate talks only," Trade Minister Howard Lutnick told CNBC.

"But if they don't, these talks will continue," he said.

President Trump also said tariffs of 25 percent for steel and aluminum imports would take effect on schedule on March 12. Canada and Mexico are both major exporters of the metal to the US market, with Canada, especially those contributing to most aluminum imports.

On Wednesday, President Trump exempted automotive goods from the 25 percent tariff he imposed on imports from Canada and Mexico from Tuesday, levies that economists deemed threatening to trigger inflation and hinder growth in the three countries.

He issued the exception after meeting with executives from leading US automaker Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis.

Mexican and Canadian officials are frustrated by tariff negotiations with the Trump Administration, with a lack of clarity over US wishes making resolutions seem impossible, sources from the two countries told Reuters.

Earlier on Thursday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who will step down as a Canadian leader on Sunday, said he did not expect President Trump's trade war to subside in the near future.

"I can confirm that we will continue to engage in the trade war launched by the United States in the future," he told reporters in Ottawa.

There was no immediate response from Mexican officials, although President Claudia Sheinbaum on Thursday made a phone call with President Trump for which he had approved a postponement.

"We have made very kind and respectful phone calls which we agree that our work and collaboration have yielded unprecedented results, within the framework of respecting our sovereignty," President Sheinbaum said in a post on X.